In psychiatric care it can be necessary to deprive a patient of the right to make decisions about their own care. The purpose of this study was to examine if demographic factors contributed to an arbitrariness in health professionals assessment of a patient's ability to make decisions for themselves. The factors under study were the patient's gender and the health care professional’s sex, age, profession and years of work experience. To investigate this a questionnaire was constructed and then distributed in psychiatric outpatient clinics, both in physical form and in the form of a web questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions about demographic data of the health care professionals, a case description and statements about the... (More)

In psychiatric care it can be necessary to deprive a patient of the right to make decisions about their own care. The purpose of this study was to examine if demographic factors contributed to an arbitrariness in health professionals assessment of a patient's ability to make decisions for themselves. The factors under study were the patient's gender and the health care professional’s sex, age, profession and years of work experience. To investigate this a questionnaire was constructed and then distributed in psychiatric outpatient clinics, both in physical form and in the form of a web questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions about demographic data of the health care professionals, a case description and statements about the ability of the patient described. The health care professionals where then asked to estimate the extent to which they agreed with the statements or not. The factors that appeared to have the greatest impact on the estimates were the age, profession and years of work experience of the health professionals. The study shows the value of clear guidelines that describe how and on what basis the assessment of patients' self-determination should be made. (Less)

@misc{8057997,
abstract = {In psychiatric care it can be necessary to deprive a patient of the right to make decisions about their own care. The purpose of this study was to examine if demographic factors contributed to an arbitrariness in health professionals assessment of a patient's ability to make decisions for themselves. The factors under study were the patient's gender and the health care professional’s sex, age, profession and years of work experience. To investigate this a questionnaire was constructed and then distributed in psychiatric outpatient clinics, both in physical form and in the form of a web questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions about demographic data of the health care professionals, a case description and statements about the ability of the patient described. The health care professionals where then asked to estimate the extent to which they agreed with the statements or not. The factors that appeared to have the greatest impact on the estimates were the age, profession and years of work experience of the health professionals. The study shows the value of clear guidelines that describe how and on what basis the assessment of patients' self-determination should be made.},
author = {Dahlqvist, Mikael},
keyword = {autonomi,beslutskompetens,bedömningar,vinjetter,psykiatri,hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal,autonomy,decision-making-capacity,assessment,vignettes,psychiatry,health professionals.},
language = {swe},
note = {Student Paper},
title = {Förmåga eller oförmåga?},
year = {2015},
}